During the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised to "create an agency within the Corporation for National and Community Service dedicated to building the capacity and effectiveness of the nonprofit sector."
When we last looked at this promise, in November 2009, Obama had signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which included a range of provisions to boost volunteerism and community service.
We looked at two funds that addressed some of the issues raised in the promise -- the Social Innovation Fund and the Volunteer Generation Fund.
As we noted, the Social Innovation Fund was charged with providing funds to existing grantmaking organizations, which were tasked with making grants to nonprofit groups that engage in philanthropic projects, including youth, anti-poverty, health, conservation and crime-reduction efforts. At both the grantmakers' level and the nonprofit groups' level, the federal money has to be supplemented by funds from foundations or other private donors according to a predetermined formula.
The second fund, the Volunteer Generation Fund, was intended to improve how volunteer efforts are utilized. It would provide funds to "states and nonprofits to recruit, manage, and support volunteers and strengthen the nation"s volunteer infrastructure."
Obama initially asked for $50 million for the Social Innovation Fund and $10 million for the Volunteer Generation Fund. We held off on moving this promise beyond In the Works until we saw whether those two funds were given all or most of the money requested.
In recent years, the Social Innovation Fund has been funded at a level pretty close to $50 million -- specifically, $49.9 million in fiscal 2011 and $44.8 million in fiscal 2012. The president"s fiscal 2013 budget requested $50 million. (Here is a link to some of its grant recipients.)
The Volunteer Generation Fund, by contrast, has struggled. It received $4 million in both fiscal 2011 and fiscal 2012 -- and for fiscal 2013, the president recommended zeroing it out. In its budget proposal, the Corporation for National Service said that the cuts affecting the Volunteer Generation Fund and other "lower-priority" programs because "tough choices have to be made in order to preserve funding for core national service programs, for our state partners, and for IT modernization."
So one of the two key programs supporting this promise has been sustained at close to full funding, but the administration has decided to eliminate the other. On balance, we rate this promise a Compromise.
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Two programs were created, but only one remains
Our Sources
Corporation for National and Community Service, congressional budget justification for fiscal 2013, accessed Oct. 25, 2012.
Philanthropy News Digest, "2012 Social Innovation Fund Grant Recipients Announced," Aug. 2, 2012